Thank you for being here in good number. Happy birthday to me, good days have come. Its Lord’s mercy He gave me birth on this auspicious day. Lot of devotees come on this day to meet Lord. “vitthu maza lekurwada”.
I was born on tuesday in Aravade, Lord Rama was born on Tuesday. So they named me Raghunath as its Lord Rama’s name. My mummy mazi aai used to love me a lot. She used to take me to temple and she used to say fold your palms and pray and I used ask her what to pray?? And she used to say ask for Buddhi. Then Lord heard my prayers and finally I became Hare Krsna wala. Then my elder brother came to Mumbai to take me back. And said to Lord we never told to give him such Buddhi. My family used to think that one day Raghunath will become engineer and come to village with motorcycle. But I went with bullock cart with padayatra to Aravade. I was studying in Sangali initially but my family said you go to Mumbai University for higher studies. That’s how Lord inspired them to send me to Mumbai.
Then I went to Mumbai. Once in pandal program I was giving Introduction of Srila Prabhupada. I said Srila Prabhupada is exporter and importer; he exported holy name to America and imported American sandhus. I was lucky to have darshan of Srila Prabhupada. I was inspired by his kirtan. I always had this desire to serve country..humanity.. But was not sure how to start it.

“Yatha taror mula nesechanena” – When you put water at roots then fruits will come. Srila Prabhupada said we also want to serve our family, country, humanity then you should serve Lord. Then my eyes opened. We always have propensity to serve someone. So we should serve Lord. One is guru and other laghu. Phone has become cheap and talk has also become cheap. So if you want to really serve some one then serve Lord through Krsna everybody will be served. I also brought few books of Srila Prabhupada also japa mala.

Then I started living in kohinoor lane with some of my villagers in Mumbai. I was student of chemistry. And I used to keep grantha in the chemistry book and read. And my parents told my villages keep an eye on him he should not run away and they were happy seeing me reading rasayan that is chemistry. But they were not aware what rasayan I was reading. When nobody was in room I used to sing kirtan like I heard from Srila Prabhupada.

I used to regularly go to hare krsna land juhu then I decided jina yaha marna yaha… I wrote a letter to the president there to join. I wrote in the letter dazzling arti, ecstatic kirtan, prasdam, which I had copied from the pamphlet which I got from there. Then I went to meet the president and told him I want to join and he announced new bhakta here new bhakta here.

Britishers came for business here and then captured us. So Indians were not joining in Hare Krsna. Indian used to say these foreigners are CIA. Yes we are CIA- Caitanya Intelligence Agency... So very less Indians were joining. So the hare krsna land people were very happy to receive me they welcomed me. And then they took me to a place where a barber was waiting for me. So in one hour I was hare krsna devotee. Same evening they took me to a place and I was told to translate lecture of H.G. Gargamuni prabhu. So in two hours I became a preacher. Then my family came to know about me. They got the pamphlet of Hare Krsna festival. Then they understood. I would be there. Then my elder brother came to take me back. If you don’t come back mom will not live. Family was telling me stay at home we will make a temple here for you. But I wanted to stay in Hare Krsna temple. All villagers used to say. He was a very good boy now he has become mad. My mom went to an astrologer and he said he will come back. But his bhavisyavani went wrong. I went back to Hare Krsna land by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

Srila prabhupada made me fortunate and you also make others fortunate by giving them hari nama. Let us all push forward the mission of Srila Prabhupada. You will need to take now responsibility on your shoulders. Time is less and lot of seva is pending. I can’t do it alone… I need help… We all together will protect, expand, this Hare Krsna society. You all love Srila Prabhupada, you are premi bhakta of Srila Prabhupada. But Srila Prabhupada said you show your love by cooperating with each other after I am gone. This is how you show your love for me. Srila Prabhupada is siksha guru for all of us…… Every one related to Krsna is to glorified…

SrilaPrabhupada ki jai…
Radha Pandharinath ki jai…

Venue: Nagpur Airport
Dated: 14 june 2015

Hare Krishna,
We also used to go to Mumbai airport to receive Srila Prabhupada like you all came. We used to take his ambassador car to receive him, he had three cars one in Mumbai and other two in Vrindavan and Mayapur. We used to see him climbing down the staircase, Srila Prabhupada always looking in front. I was brahmacari at Mumbai at that time 40 years back.

We used to go with garland as you brought and apply chandan on Prabhupada’s forehead, you did not bring chandan. We used to welcome Srila Prabhupada with kirtan and dance.
Mumbai is Srila Prabhupadas office, a person has to go regularly to his office, some have to go everyday (laughter). Srila Prabhupada used to stay for 6 months in Mumbai and 6 months in foreign countries for preaching. Whenever he used to come to Mumbai we used to go to receive him and when he used to leave Mumbai that time also we used to go to drop him at airport. Our heart filled with his separation and our eyes used to follow him as he entered the airport. Then we used to climb the terrace and see his plane taking off and keep looking at the plane till it vanishes in the sky in the clouds and pay obeisance’s there on the terrace and say loudly Jai Srila Prabhupada and then go back to temple.

Prabhupada went to New York via Nagpur his plane was from Kolkata, so from Mumbai he went to Kolkata via Nagpur. So this year is a special year as it will be 50 years, 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupadas journey to New York. So we will have a grand celebration on that day 2nd August 2015, we will go to the station and the same train will come in which Prabhupada went to Kolkata vai Nagpur from Mumbai. So we will have a grand celebration there. Banners all over celebrating the day when Prabhupada went to New York to propagate the message of Godhead all over the world.
All over there will be celebration on that day. So “Prabhupada in Nagpur” is a good topic to write book on, you can all do research and write a book. Prabhupada had given his hand written Bhagvat gita to the manager of Nagpur airport at that time, this should be included in that book. Prabhupada had a desire to have IKSCON in Nagpur, Hg Harisauri Prabhu has written this in his book “Transcendental dairy”. When once Prabhupada was sitting in his room with some of his disciples there was a map of world. Prabhupada was keeping his finger on some countries and saying “We will have a temple here, we will have a temple here” like that Prabhupada kept his finger on Nagpur and said “we will have temple here”. HH Sridhara Swami Maharaj was witness and he shared that incident with me.
So you all preach, by Prabhupadas mercy we have temple here in Nagpur and we should strive hard to join more and more people to our movement.
Haribol.

Venue: ISKCON Nagpur
Dated: 14 June 2015

Hare Krishna
It’s good that all of you have come. If you would not be there, then there would not have been such a wonderful kirtan. When many devotees come together and chant that’s called as ‘sankirtan’. All of you were enjoying kirtan, I don’t have to tell it differently. ‘Ram naam ke hira moti loot sako to loot lo’. By seeing this Lord is happy and devotees like Narada Muni are also happy.

Once when in America there was kirtan going on, Narada muni came and he was very happy, Prabhupad told that to the devotees present there in that kirtan. Brahma does creation he is an engineer and the first Acharya in our sampradaya, Brahma-madhava-goudiya sampradaya. Brahmaji says ‘iti shodasakam namnam kali-kalmasha-nasanam’ Kali is full of dosha but one thing is the best- ‘kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta sanga param vrajet’. So inspite of so many faults Kali yuga has one quality by chanting one can attain perfection of life.
“asat-sanga-tyaga ei vaisnava-acara” (CC Madhya 22.87) so one has to satya from asatsanga and take association of devotees that’s vaishnav behavior.

In London, one person met a book distributor, he had some days back bought a book of Prabhupada and read it also and he got inspired and started chanting the holy name on a handmade. And started chanting and also learnt about the 4 regulative principles to be followed. Cricket also should not be played its waste of time. So he followed all regulative principles.

Srila Prabhupada used to do dictation in night and then his disciples would do transcription and tthen his books were printed and distributed the books are all powerful. Reading Prabhupad’s book that’s also sadhu-sanga through book. So this man got association of Prabhupada through his books.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!! Reading Prabhupads books is like getting his association.

So this was one incident how a person got inspired. There are so many such incidents. Prabhupad used to write books and read his own books. Once somebody said Prabhupada you are reading your own books, Prabhupada said, “No no! Lord inspired me and I just wrote. These are books of Lord they are not mine.”

50 years back Prabhupad went to New York. So this year is golden jubilee of Prabhupad’s journey to New York. So that day will be a celebration day, I always say this- when a ‘Devaduta’ travelled in Jaladuta’, so Prabhupada went via Nagpur. Prabhupada went to Sri Lanka and said, “Very clean city like Puna”. Then Prabhupada went to Cochin and stayed for one day there in a house. So I went to that place with All India padayatra there and the lady there of that house told us, “I had cooked prasad for your gurudev when he had come to Cochin”.

So there will be celebration at Kolkata, Cochin on that special day. Then after one month boat reached at Boston, Prabhupada saw the people there were very busy. And Prabhupada was thinking I am sent by my gurudev to preach but people are so busy here, rat-race you can’t stop a rat. Hye! Wait shake hand but it will not wait he is busy running to his house. He has many houses he is busy making house. Then one day a snake comes and stays there and when the owner comes and Haribol, it becomes ‘Prasad’ for the snake. So like that we are also busy and one day Kal comes in form of death and end of the journey- yatra samapta.

So Prabhupada prayed to Lord

“nacao nacao prabhu nacao se-mate
kasthera puttali jatha nacao se-mate” … Markine Bhagavata-dharma

When Prabhupada reached New York by boat nobody was there to receive him. He had his bag and a umbrella. Prabhupada did not know where to go, turn left or right nothing zero. In such conditions Prabhupada preached there. He was not alone Lord was with him and had wealth of Harinam with him, he had Bhagvatam with him, this is real wealth.

You all read Prabhupada Lilamrita, it’s time to read Prabhupada Lilamrita this year.
Prabhupada lilamrita ki………… jai. Buy if you don’t have, read it it’s available in many languages. We are in debt to Prabhupada. What he gave us? Krsna-consciousness, he gave Krsna to the whole world. There was deficiency of Krsna-consciousnes, so Prabhupada gave Krsna-consciousness to the whole world, because of his mercy there are many followers of Krsna consciousness all over the world.

In Durban few months back I was there, there was ratha yatra 10,000 devotees had come for the 4 days festival celebration. Haribol !! Prabhupad started ratha yatra now we have ratha yatra all over the world. All mercy of Harinam, one who says Hare Krsna he immediately comes in contact with the Lord. Janmastami also is celebrated all over, book distribution all over; every 2 second one book of Prabhupada is distributed. Haribol!

In Caitanya raj, Caitanya Empire every time in some place some arti is going on, every hour, round the clock full week. So after reading Prabhupad’s books there comes revolution on consciousnesses. So try to join as many as new people to our movement. That’s the perfection of life. Everybody is suffering so many bhoga and Roga. 6 crore people are suffering from diabetes. Lord says ‘yogi bhava’ but people are after becoming bhogi, bhogi bhava.

So yoga day is coming 21 June, you also preach about bhakti-yoga. 6th chapter of Gita, Lord tells about astanga-yoga. Yoga is for health and fitness. So on that yoga day you go and preach about Bhakti yoga-connecting atma with Parmatma so preach and give the Holy Name to everybody.

Nitai Gaur premanande Hari Haribol!

Padayatra India is often affectionately referred to as “the mother of all padayatras.”This is because it has provided inspiration for devotees and leaders alike since its inception in 1976, and more especially since the phenomenal 1984 walk from Dwaraka to Mayapur. Padayatra India has nurtured and encouraged many devotees to organize walks in their own countries or to eagerly participate in them, making padayatra a worldwide phenomenon. The use of bullock carts has also served as a motivation, particularly in Western countries, where the idea was initially thought to be impractical and impossible.

“Mother” implies there is a father and children. Could we call Srila Prabhupada the father of ISKCON padayatra? Without a doubt! It was Srila Prabhupada who initially planted the desire seed of bullock cart sankirtana in my heart and subsequently in the hearts and minds of several other devotees. During the decade leading up to the celebration of the Srila Prabhupada Centennial in 1996, more than a hundred padayatra sankirtana babies were born around the planet -and some have lived long lives, some for only a few days or weeks, but all of them glorious in their own special way.

Since Radhastami 2009, when Acarya Dasa took over the leadership, Padayatra India has flourished. To my great satisfaction, this modest brahmacari from Maharashtra has risen to the challenge. He has the ultimate advantage a padayatra needs – he hails from a village and is steeped in village culture. Under his watch, the number of padayatris has almost doubled. He is like a magnet attracting new devotees – predominantly village boys – to the program and empowering them to participate. An increase in numbers means an expansion of every aspect of padayatra, beginning with kirtana. Acarya has breathed new life into the harinama the padayatris take through the villages to attract people to the evening arati, thus rejuvenating the evening program. He also steadily promotes book distribution, and has encouraged Surya Vamsi Dasa to engage in a new service: visiting university campuses along the padayatra route and inviting chancellors and professors to purchase full sets of Srila Prabhupada’s books for their libraries. Acarya’s main assets are his unwavering Krsna consciousness and his expertise in keeping the group unified. He willingly praises the devotees for their efforts, and supports them wholeheartedly. No matter how busy the padayatris are, Acarya makes sure they always set aside at least one and a half hours each day to study. In this way the group is more cohesive and their preaching more powerful. Motivated by a strong desire to give the mercy of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara even to the most forgotten souls, he has recently taken some serious risks by leading the padayatris through a dangerous area in Jharkhand. But one night the devotees were attacked by a band of dacoits, which resulted in several padayatris being injured and valuables being stolen. Acarya has learned his lesson to be more careful in the future and avoid criminal districts.

Padayatra India has engendered several walks on the subcontinent, and continues to do so. Since 1992, the Bhubaneshwar temple has been holding its annual three-week bullock cart padayatra in Orissa. In 1997, Bhakti Vikas Swami inspired a devotee to organize a team of brahmacaris to do bullock cart padayatra in Gujarat. In 1999, a group of about twelve devotees began a padayatra in Maharashtra and walked for an entire year. At the beginning of May 2004, Revati Ramana Dasa and the Tirupati devotees arranged for a group of about 1500 devotees to walk for two days from Tirumala to Appliaguntha. Since December 2012, a small group of devotees led by Visnuswami Dasa have been walking from village to village with a bullock cart in their native state of Andhra Pradesh, and in May 2013, Rasa Bihari Dasa organized a three-day bullock cart padayatra in Goa. Another walk will soon take place in Kerala, and the Tirupati devotees are once again considering padayatra sankirtana. Kartika 2014 will mark ISKCON’s 28th Vraja-mandala parikrama. It will also be Parasurama Dasa’s 20th Kartika bullock-cart padayatra through the twelve forests of Vrndavana, with a focus on mass distribution of prasada and booklets specifically targeted to the Vrajavasis.

We pray that Padayatra India will continue to give birth to offspring in all the Indian states and beyond. After all, there are so many oxen eager to pull Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai’s cart and attain the perfection of their animal form of life.

Date : Dec 2003
Occasion : Ratha Yatra
Venu: Jhashi
Everything here reminds us of Srila Prabhupada, as we arrived at the station today I was thinking and we were also talking amongst ourselves how Prabhupada also used to arrive at the same train station some 50 years ago. But then I also as we came out of the station looking for transportation there was Mercedes very expensive car was awaiting our arrival, probably there was no car waiting for Prabhupada 50 years ago.
Well it would be good to have Prabhupada having car and we just walking or crawling. Then as we were driving through the town today again we were thinking oh! On this street Prabhupada also must have walked. Then we meet Sastri ji he used to be one of close associates of Prabhupada. Then Janananda Prabhu he came on the train from Kanpur then we were thinking did Prabhupada also come vai Kanpur while coming from Ahallabad to Jhashi.
So like that so many things remind us of Srila Prabhupada here in Jhashi, then we meet the press reporter we had a press conference this afternoon, to them also we mentioned this Ratha Yatra festival we are celebrating to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Prabhupada staying here in Jhashi because Prabhupada stayed here in jhashi.
My God brothers spoke very nicely with several points to the press reporter reminding them of Srila Prabhupada in Jhashi. So like that in so many ways in Jhashi reminds us of Prabhupada, of course there are so many things we are not mentioning. The reason why we are in Jhashi together is because of Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada ki …….jai.
So for pleasure of Srila Prabhupada we are performing this ratha yatra festival, dedicating this festival for pleasure and service to Srila Prabhupada (Jai …ho)
So this Prabhupada consciousness would lead to Krishna Consciousness, they are very much interlinked Prabhupada consciousness and Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada always reminded us of Krishna, so when we think of Prabhupada immediately he is making us think of Krishna.
So we are very thankful to Krishna who send Srila Prabhupada to this planet. Then by grace of Lord Krishna we were able to meet Srila Prabhupada and it is only by the grace of Srila Prabhupada in the way he organized the festivals including ratha yatra. Tomorrow by the grace of Srila Prabhupada we will have darshan of Jagganath in Jhashi Haribol…………………………..
Srila Prabhupada is inviting Jagganath to Jhashi, so seed that was planted by Prabhupada in Jhashi is now turned into plant and gigantic tree that we are seeing in form of our congregation and followers of Srila Prabhupada. So we are hoping we are confident that tomorrow’s festival will still spread Krishna consciousness further far and wider throughout the town of Jhashi. So you all please take part enthusiastically in tomorrow’s ratha yatra festival. Srila Prabhupada would be watching us from up above as we pull the chariot of Jagganath through the streets of Jhashi tomorrow. Haribol……………………
So with these words and thoughts I turn the mike over to radhakund prabhu……
Thank you

Venue: Vrindavan
Dated: 2/8/12
Kolkata dhama ki…jai
So today is not just another day very historic day –reserved for Srila Prabhupada’s departure for USA America I don’t know what time of the he boarded that Jalduta 1965 I was small, you all remember what you were doing in 1965? (Maharaj ji asking the audience) no…Krishna remembers but you have forgotten, you were another body probably, 1965 how many were on the planet? ( A devotee say he got married in 1965) you were married in 1965 – so historic occasion (laughter) and happily married since then also accomplishment.
So it was way back in 1972 infact in Kolkatta Prabhupada was given his instruction “Oh! you seem to be very intelligent” Srila Prabhupada had walked into that quarter were Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was delivering a talk to assembled disciples and devotees and Srila Prabhupada walked with his friend and offered his obesciances and Srila Prabhupada he was still trying to take his seat and then Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur point out – you.you…….seem to be very intelligent and you should spread this, bring this Bhagvat dharma , the idea was you should bring this message to the western world and preach in English language.
So it took long time before “life time preparation” before you execute anything they say you prepare 80% of time for preparation 20% time for execution then you will get the success not other way round, little preparation or no preparation and you jump in action. This kind of universal understanding how much time in preparation 80% time in preparation. So Prabhupada was preparing to one day to go to th West. He was also married and he had his little pharmacy in Prayag – Prayag pharmacy. Then Srila Prabhupada in 1944 he starts publication of his “Back to Godhead magazine” this was part of the preparation he goes to Jhasi, he used to travels all over North India sell his products so he was well received in Jhasi then he spend some more time in Jhasi going back and forth between Jhasi and Prayag on time he had gone back and Srila Prabhupada’s wife had sold his big fat Bhagvatam ‘kabadi…………….kabadi……………paper’ hye come come she sold and got some tea biscuits in exchange then Prabhupada realized what she had done. He was that’s it and he asked that question “you want tea or me?” take you pick wife had said of course jokingly she replied she had no idea what would happen with such response, light hearted manner she said I will go for tea. And Prabhupada went for something else, ok you stay with your tea and here I go.
And Srila Prabhupada left for Jhasi, he was going and coming but this time he was only going not coming any more this was also part of the preparation. Now he was from Grastha to Vanaprastha and lot of preparation in Jhasi, you know where Jhasi is ? not far from here 3,4 hours by train from here there is ISKCON Temple now south of Mathura. So Srila Prabhupada was doing some other preparation he was trying to recruit some preachers putting some adds in newspapers “preachers wanted” “If you have so many son give me one I will train him send him all over to propagate Krishna consciousness” no response very little response . He founded his Sarvabhaum sabha and he was preaching he conceived devotees in Jhasi or those who go deeper in what Srila Prabhupada did while he was in Jhasi he conceived ISKCON, he was mediating some strategy he had never forgotten the instructions of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur although lots of time had passed but he was preparing so ISKCON was conceived in Jhasi and delivered in New York, Conceived and delivered so conceived in Jhasi and delivered in New York.
Then Srila Prabhupada he had a place in mind he thought he would make that as his head quarter but that did not work out in his favor and he had to live Jhasi comes to Mathura Keshavaji Gaudiya matha first helping with some editing some writing he had his Caitanya Mahaprabhu deity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Jhasi he bring them to Mathura understand it’s the same deity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu still on the altar of Keshavaji Gaudiya matha in Mathura, Keshava ji that’s spiritual master of Narayan Maharaj. And Srila Prabhupada he takes sanyasa 1959 this is also part of the preparation he is going to be travelling all over the world so sanyasa ashram is appropriate, he starts writing books, “easy journey to other planets” is one of the first book Prabhupada published. Then he moves to Vrindavan to some other place first then to Radha Damodhara temple first and further meditation on the mission future vision to propagate Bhagvat dharma in the Western world in English language.
Then he starts translation of Bhagvatam everything he does by himself translation, typing, editing he goes to Delhi riding on 3rd class train, such class doesn’t even exist now you know what 2nd class is like so you could imagine one class lower and getting his books printed goes to the printer sometimes he carries papers on his head to save some ricksaw fare. He goes sometimes to the printer he has not taken his meal doesn’t know where the meal is going to come from or there is not sufficient money to buy meal, so he is settling between Delhi and Radha Damodhara temple continues his translation he has 3 cantos of Bhagvatam ready.
He does not have anything substantial to carry to the west, so the book in English language he thought this would be the right thing. Prabhupada was in Kuruksetra attending Gita samelan – lots of speakers from all over the world, Kuruksetra is Gita’s place, place where Bhagvat Gita advented so they had some conference so Srila Prabhupada was invited. This is where he had met Sumati Murarji little encounter with Sumati Murarji the owner of East India navigation company. So at some point Srila Prabhupada after the Kuruksetra Gita conference had gone to Bombay met this lady Sumati Murarji incharge of Jaldutta boat and many other cargo boats she owned. “You are too old swamiji you may not even make to America, you will not survive it’s not an easy journey, you have return a book ‘easy journey to other planets’ but this journey is not going to be easy”. But Prabhupada he was fixed, he had to go this is instruction of my spiritual master, order of my spiritual master, I must go. So Prabhupada had to come several times to meet this lady he had to wait for hours to get the appointment to see her. So she agreed yes swamiji you could travel in a cargo boat the boat that carried goods not the passengers, some crew members some staff travelled along with the big luggage, big baggage lots of goods.
Srila Prabhupada travelled to Kolkata again by train this boat lives from Kolkata this Jalduta boat, well we only fly these days, Prabhupada has to catch boat from Kolkata he is taking train must be again third class train. In his diary he makes note that he travelled via Nagpur, so devotees in our Nagpur temple they think Prabhupada travelled to America via Nagpur. He started his journey in one sense from Bombay travelled to Kolkata via Nagpur. In Kolkata Prabhupada packed his baggage everything was in suitcase which he was able to carry no coolies and no bag on top of another bag and bag no, just one bag in one hand in the other hand he had umbrella. Sanayasi should carry danda or umbrella so there were few friends to say bye farewell and Srila Prabhupada climbing the stairs of Jaladuta boat that famous scene picture we all remember Prabhupada climbing, there is a one little diorama here in front of Prabhupada Samadhi diorama depicting those times.
Then onto the boat the first day was he had a good time riding on the Jaladuta boat, duta – means messenger of the waters that is technical meaning of the name of that boat but as now Prabhupada was riding on that boat he was devduta, he was Krishna duta riding on Jaladuta, duta means messenger. So in one sense very appropriate name for the boat, one duta in another duta, the boat is duta and the passenger Bhaktivedanta Swami is the duta the messenger. The next day as in Bay of Bengal it was raining, windy, it was turbulent and Prabhupada started suffering sea sickness, vomiting. So for next several days Prabhupada was ill he noted all this some mentions, brief mentions of this in his dairy which I snow known in ISKCON as Jaladuta diary. We don’t know whether Prabhupada was expecting one day his followers form all over the world would read his diary – Jaladuta diary of course we gave that name Jaladuta dairy that wasn’t Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada arrives at Colombo the captain of the boat called Pandya, Arun Pandya he takes Prabhupada lets go Swamiji, let’s take a little lets go of the boat into the town and Prabhupada was seeing the town around Prabhupada liked Colombo its very Clean Prabhuapada says, Oh! This reminds me of Pune he said he wrote a letter to someone that is where he mentions oh! This is very clean city back on the Jaladuta boat again and next destination was going to be Cochin the west coast of India from Kolkata to Colombo, Sri Lanka Silone before it was Silone now it is Sri Lanka, Cochin Kerala.
So Srila Prabhupada his books “Bhagvatam” were going to be loaded many crates of Bhagvatam were going to loaded at Cochin they went by lorry or other means of transportation his books were being loaded in Cochin. So boat was going to halt there one night. Prabhupada was in Cochin town and this Sea India navigation company they had some office there and some officers staying there in Cochin so Prabhupada was guest of this navigation company in Cochin. Some years ago our padayatra was in Cochin I visited Cochin then we went to look for that place where Prabhupada had spend the night as we went there we were surprised the lady who was also there in 1965 was still there she said “I cooked for your swami ji” and they showed us the place where he spend the night Prabhupada had just one night before he would live, his boat would live for America so that evening he wanted to do some satsanga. So the officers of the Navigation company office they organized some get together they invited guests and Prabhupada did program in that house.
He spend that night and next day his books were on the boat and finally leaving for America then on the way there were more encounters with the climate and rocking of the boat and rain and then there were the days Prabhupada had heart attacks one day one next day another one and Prabhupada wrote if there would be another one well this would be end of me these were Prabhupada’s thoughts he wrote down in the diary it was that bad but he is tolerating all this. Then he has a dream in the dream he sees a boat And Krishna he personally is roving the boat, Krishna has taken charge of the boat and comforting don’t worry don’t worry everything will be all right comforting Prabhupada, Krishna comforting and then rest of the journey was very smooth to Atlantic ocean. Captain Pandya noticed oh! I have gone back and forth so many times through this Atlantic Ocean but first time smooth journey like this. Then Prabhupada explained how Krishna appeared in the dream and he has taken charge of the boat and that is why. The wife of this captain said “swamiji you should accompany us on the way back to India then we will have another smooth journey if you are with us”.
1965 Janmastami Srila Prabhupada celebrated on the boat no one else had no clue that it was Janmastami day but Bhakti Vedanta Swami he was not called Srila Prabhupada those days. He made announcement he gathered the crew members and staff come ………come…come let’s have Janmastami celebration. When they all gathered Prabhupada talked about Krishna and distributed some prasadam to them. Next day was his birthday no ceremony only he knew that it was his birthday and there was no one say happy birthday to you or no cake no nothing silent observation Srila Prabhupada was although he was in Vrindavan and now he had left Vrindavan but not really he had not left his Vrindavan he was in Vrindavan he was remembering he mentions 3 deities name Govinda, Gopinath and Damodhar he is remembering these deities. So he lost or left his heart in Vrindavan although he is away he is very much here in Vrindavan, Vrindavan spirit. Throughout the journey he is reading, studying Caitanya Caritamrita he is absorbed in studies of Caitanya Caritamrita.
So these are some of the highlights then his boat Jaladuta arrived at Boston common wealth pear something like that this is where Srila Prabhupada cleared his customs and immigration clearance took place in Boston and this is the first town first city Prabhupada touched with his lotus feet blessed America. Pandya was again with him Pandya wanted to do some shopping “Swami ji come along lets go” so there some friendship developed he would take him to see the Boston. So Srila prabhupada was there in the town Boston around and on the streets and he saw the rat race people moving, going back and forth so fast no ready to stop so busy like rats they go from one hole to another and make residence then they make another hole they spend few minutes there and they get out and go to another one and another one they are racing. Rats do the racing from hole to hole and sometimes people have their houses in this town and they have property in another one in that town here there and they are shuttling back and forth this office that office this business that business running.
The rats are so busy if you ask rat hello! Mr rat shake hand is rat going to stop no no make the divergent and move fast faster. So Prabhupada thoughts were oh! I am here to preach the message of Gauranga finally as per instructions of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur I am here in the west to propagate Bhagvat dharma in English language but look people are so bust how is this going to be possible to preach to them. So Srila Prabhupada back on the Jaladuta boat again and last leg of the journey from Boston to New York and that is when Srila Prabhupad took pen and paper and wrote a poem of what he had experienced in Boston and how he is going to accomplish the mission this propagation of Bhagvat dharma in the western world and then he starts praying the Lord, his prayers his thoughts he puts them on paper.
“nachao prabhu nachao nachao sei mate ami to kasteir putali”
He says “I am just little doll or puppet in your hand “nachao” you make me dance, you make me dance as you will feel on my own I can’t do anything I am just a doll in your hands make me dance oh! Lord make me dance, make me dance and talk and walk as you feel, I have this big name Bhakti Vedanta you do something so that I am not so called Bhakti Vedant let the purport of this name Bhakti Vedanta be fullfilled”.
So we get the glimpse of what was on Srila Prabhupada’s mind throughout what he was going through the illness, the thoughts, the prayers his determination his tolerance of course his enthusiasm his obedience to the orders of his spiritual master and his vision. He also wrote another poem before I think he reached Boston. He is talking how this holy name will reach every town every village the full confidence that this definitely will happen. So finally boat reaching New York it took him 35 days from Kolkata to New York now it takes 16 hours now we could go you don’t even have to break your journey in London or Paris you could just take off and land in New York, Philadelphia, Washington or Boston. But Prabhupada travelled 35 days and he has now arrived in New York. As Prabhupada gets off the boat unto the land of America Prabhupada makes another entry ok I have reached here but is there any one to receive me no…………anyone with the garland or chandan or kirtan, is there press awaiting what about the 5 star hotel booking something nothing………………….he is there but he does not know whether to turn right or left or where he should he go he does not know no clue.
And what about money he had 40 Rupees as the balance he also had to spend money on the boat on this and that and when he was in New York he had 40 rupees and 20 dollars he had sold set of Bhagvatam to the captain of the boat (maharaj laughs) and he made 20 dollars, so he had 40 rupees and 20 dollars but that money how long he could survive in New York with 40 rupees and 20 dollars may be 20 hours or 20 minutes. Then he does meet with the travel agent who would arrange Srila Parabhupada’s return journey. Boston he was given 3 months visa, he could stay only 3 months in America his visa was stamped 3 months stay in America so in New York he arranged his return travel 2 months after he had just arrived 2 months latter he was going to go back. So that person who arranged Prabhupada’s return travels the way Srila Prabhupada looked sadhu out fit simple cotton clothes saffron of course, tilak and kanthi mala. He had not seen anyone like him and of course no one in America probably had seen any traditional sadhu. And then Prabhupada goes to a bus station his sponsor was from butler Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania is a state, butler is a town city so Srila Prabhupada is going to catch bus so he is going to bus station he is catching bus to one Mr Agrawal he had sponsored Srila Prabhupada’s travels or visa but he had not come to receive Prabhupada. So Prabhupada had to go to bus station catch bus to go to his host, no courtesy, no hospitality.
He is there in America now with the 40 rupees there is a story it did stay on and on not just 3 months but several years he stayed in America and was that 67? or… …he came New Vrindavan with Kirtananda swami and they had also stayed at Radha Damodhar at that time and he was travelling Kirtananda was travelling with Prabhupada. So Prabhupada returned to india Delhi airport again there was no one to receive him then Prabhupada goes to Chipiwada near Red fort in delhi, Prabhupada used to stay in Delhi at Chipiwada just recently ISKCON New Delhi has taken possession of Chipiwada there is small Radha Krishna temple small one, Srila Prabhupada used to stay upstairs whenever Srila Prabhupada went from Vrindavan to Delhi to do his printing work he used to stay there so that was his base.
So Prabhupada went from airport to chipiwada and l had to pay taxi fare so he pulled 40 rupees the fare was exactly 40 rupees (maharaj laughs) which he had them in New York when he arrived in New York those 40 rupees he was saving those 40 rupees he did not convert or spend he came back with the 40 rupees and he paid his taxi fare at Chipiwada. So Srila Prabhupada is in America preaching by himself he must have come back spending time with the butler his sponsor they had a child and Prabhupada would play with him and there is a photograph of Prabhupada with little baby Prabhupada holding his hands, Prabhupada doing his own cooking he has three Fortier cooker and oceanic that lady had used as the oceanic “swami’s smile or laugh is oceanic is like a ocean”. And Prabhupada is back in New York and starts his mission in the foot path he is sitting and chanting he has only kartal no one to play, no drum and he has no microphone, but he is attracting attention of New Yorkers that strange looking with no hair and paint on the face and he is wearing a bed sheet.
So Prabhupada is chanting and people are gathering in between Srila Prabhupada stops and does some talking “look this is Supreme Personality of Godhead he is showing the photograph”. Oh! then what is that girl doing there New Yorker asking if this you say is God then that next to him is a girl what is that girl doing there? They don’t know so much ignorance. Now our Pancha Guada knows all the glories of Radharani, if this is Krishna then this has to be Radharani (Maharaj laughs). Next to Ram it has to be Sita and if this is Balaram this has to be Revati and if this is Narayana then this has to be Laxmi. Even little kids in india know this but those elderly folks in America they had no idea, no clue so they were asking such silly questions they were just innocent ignorant, what is that girl doing there. Then Prabhupada managed to get one store front he was doing preaching on the streets, in the parks now he had his own one rented store front 26 second Avenue and twice a week Prabhupada was conducting his classes there. He meet people in the parks and please come…please come to our get together. So there was some shop there before the owner there vacated, he shifted to another location, but he left the sign behind.
So some of the followers of Swami ji said “Swami ji that sign the previous owner he left the sign behind” what does it say? It says Matchless gift and Prabhupada said keep it, otherwise they were thinking of get rid of it throw it away. No..no ….keep it if the sign says Matchless gift, because my gift are matchless I have come with matchless gift, it’s very appropriate sign. So Srila Prabhupada was conducting classes there twice a week he was before the class or program he would do cooking for them and making offering to his deities and then he would go down there he stayed on the back on the first floor and his preaching place was downstairs in the front. Then Prabhupada used to give a talk get them up and teach them how to dance “swami step”, oh! What kind of dance you learned there? This is swami step we have learned swami step, foot there and foot there and moving – swami step. Then Prabhupada used to say – ok sit down and they all used to sit down no one else to serve the food or Prasad who is serving? He does the cooking, he does the offering, he gives the talk, he leads the kirtan, he teaches how to dance, he gets them to sit down, he feeds them, and when their bellies are full and they are out who does the cleaning? He does the cleaning all this Prabhupada is going through.
So it was all indoor going on now he had some followers and one day if you wish to join me and help me then you will have to follow some regulative principles. What are they? No meat, no egg, no fish, no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling. Are you ready? And they all raised their hands this was after some months in America and this sadhu was getting American girls and boys, who were hippies’ long hairs, the bottles, their girl friends, the boots they had no idea, they don’t know even how to sit properly nothing Prabhupada is tolerant and compassionate, kind to all of them. But now they are all attracted to him, now they are able to stay high for ever, Swami ji oh! you I have a drug you take this drug then you will stay high for ever, now otherwise the drug you take you go high and then you low and then you higher and then you go lower and then you go highest and then you go lowest then you never come up again, up and down and up and down and down for ever. But the drug that I have you can stay high forever. So they were into the drugs looking for drugs specially someone coming from India there were check out whether carrying some drugs. Swami ji said yes yes I have a drug they were into drugs (laughs) what was the drug? “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare” was the drug.
So they were now getting intoxicated the first time boys and girls and the “hippies were becoming…………..happies”. so that’s the perfection of Srila Prabhupada’s mission he travels to the west he was fulfilling desires and executing the will of his spiritual master, he was in America that is the west and he was preaching in English language he was distributing gifts and he had now some followers ready to follow 4 regulative principles. Of course he had gone through lots of harassments and difficulties dealing with the crazy drug addicts in Bowery what he had to go through, his manuscript was stolen and this happened that happened. The first day I was in America in 78 we arrived and next day we were given a tour of New York where ever Srila Prabhupada Bowery and Yoga studio by river side there was devotee called Puru prabhu was our guide and guiding myself and Giriraj and few others we had travelled from India, myself first time and then he was giving us a tour of all the places of Srila Prabhupada and then that Tomkins square Park, tree was still there and that tree is still there now Prabhupada standing under that tree and giving his address and saying I have nothing new to say to you but I am here to remind you what you have forgotten. These are Prabhupada’s first public address words it’s like a first public address under neath that tree in Tomkins square park. I have nothing new to say but what you have forgotten I am here to remind you, so we visited that place also and lots of places and then Prabhupada goes for foundation of ISKCON- International society for Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness was founded in 1966 about 1 year latter and all of this time for 1 year Prabhupada had stayed in New York he did not go any other towns and villages mostly in and around New York and now he had ISKCON- International society for Krishna consciousness ki………………………..jai.
And he had another one in San Francisco and that is the first time Prabhupada travelled from New York to San Francisco this is the first time Prabhupada had his air travel he had not travelled by plain before that first time he travelled to San Francisco and it’s time to land and he was seeing those buildings and he said they look like a match box on top of another match box and another match box (laughs). So as the plain was coming down he was watching skyscrapers tall building they were like match boxes one top of each other. So that was next town Prabhupada visits and establishes Mukund Goswami was from there he took leadership and many others and he goes to Montreal here there London n goes to Japan he is now publishing books his Bhagvat Gita was published by Macmillan company is checking his printing.
Then he returns to Kolkata and 71 Prabhupada has come to India this time he has come with lots of followers with him, he had come ones before in 67 just with one follower he had also send couple of them Jaypataka and Acutananda they were in Kolkata and Mayapur side and then Prabhupada starts travelling all over doing pandala program. Then he goes to Kumbhamela 72 Kumbhmela and like that 72 after Guar Pornima festival Prabhupada comes to Vrindavan and he had this land given by Saraf and Prabhupada did the ground breaking ceremony before that he had done one in Mayapur in 72 Guar pornima festival. Then he comes here and ground breaking ceremony and then he goes to Bombay and Hare Krishna land and ground breaking ceremony I think in 1 month or so he had 3 lands and the ground breaking and the temple constructions had started so that’s Srila Prabhuapada goes to.
So today is that day historic day Prabhupada’s departure for America it started with one person long time even after arrival in America he was just one person single handedly no friend no money rof course because he was not by himself he was not alone, we say he had no friend but his friend is?Sri Krishna was his and is his friend the best friend he had appeared in the dream on the boat also. And what about money he was penny less what was his wealth? “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare”. This was the wealth that he was carrying with all that wealth Americans had that wealth was not making Americans happy. But the kind of wealth that Prabhupada was carrying and delivered that wealth and made so called rich Americans in true sense Prabhupada enriched their lives gave lots of riches gave Krishna gave Krishna’s name Krishna’s message this was and is the wealth.
He travelled 14 times around the world making people wealthy everywhere and happy everywhere. So we should never ever forget sacrifices made by Srila Prabhupada for our welfare now we are sitting here in Balarama hall with the fans and marble floor, microphone- lots of sacrifices of Srila Prabhupada have been invested in those foundational days, setting up the scene – foundation of Hare Krishna movement. So this is the history that inspires us and that will continue to inspire the whole world. Jayadvait Maharaj was saying if Prabhupada got off the boat and if there was some reception and if there was some hotel booking there was this and that well that’s normal there is nothing to talk about or there is nothing to remember. But Lord has created such a situation – look Prabhupada pennyless, look Prabhupada 69 years, look Prabhupada has no friends, look when he gets in America he doesn’t know where to turn. So this is a different story all together extra ordinary and that makes us think or world think from such humble beginning everything kind of against elderly and no money, no friends.
Prabhupada I think once in Bombay he was giving a talk he started this movement with 40 rupees, when he started Hare Krishna movement he started with 40 rupees now he said we have 400 crores of property and wealth and empire all over the world. We started with 40 rupees and now see. In 72 Prabhupada had come for Kartik festival first and Prabhupada stayed humble dwelling Radha Damodhar quarter by this time he had followers all around the world and wealthy disciples and Ambarish and Gorge Harrison like supporters but when he comes back to Vrindavan he lived like a 6 Goswamis “tyaktva turnam asesa mandala pati” (sri sri sad goswamiastaka) all these 6 goswamis also had abandoned lots of wealth and big big positions and they are coming to Vrindavan and they were living very humble simple living very down to the earth very basics that’s where I had seen Prabhupada in 71 and in 72 I joined and I saw Prabhupada that kartik 72 I was bit surprised that kind of simple very simple life that Srila Prabhupada lead there was hardly any furniture facilities. So I also stayed 1 month 72 with Srila Prabhupada and we had some 40 – 50 devotees attending that kartik and we were thinking oh! we have lots of devotees attending the festival. And we were asked how many? 40 devotees attending 50 was considered lots of devotees and then Prabhupada used to send us everyday to this Raman reti from Radha Damodhar temple we would start kirtan in morning and going through here there loi bazaar coming down to Radha Madan Mohan, Bhaktivedanta Goshala and finally we would land here and ground breaking had taken place in March 72, in kartik some digging was going on and Tamal tree was there, when I stood next to the tamal tree I was taller than the tree that time but that tree is no more I think this is the 2nd or 3rd ? this is 2nd tree tamal tree in the court yard Prabhupada had made sure that no tree is cut specially tamal tree so made the design so that the tree is part of the temple. So we would come here every day very cold those days we would do kirtan here offer our obesciance here and go back again to Radha Damodhar temple.
Ok Srila Prabhupada ki………jai
Srila Prabhupada’s departure for America ki…………………….jai
Radha Damodhar ki……………………………………….jai

What is the real wealth?
Krishna, Krishna’s name, Krishna’s message this was and is the real wealth.

Jaladuta boat, srila prabhupada, America, ISKCON, vrindavan,
Jaladuta diary gives ……………….
The glimpse of what was on Srila Prabhupada’s mind throughout, what he was going through, the illness, the thoughts, the prayers, his determination, his tolerance, of course his enthusiasm, his obedience to the orders of his spiritual master and his vision.

Jaladuta – means messenger of the waters
Prabhupada was riding on that boat he was devduta, he was Krishna duta riding on Jaladuta, duta means messenger. So in one sense very appropriate name for the boat, one duta in another duta, the boat is duta and the passenger Bhaktivedanta Swami is the duta the messenger.
ISKCON Conceived and delivered
ISKCON was conceived in Jhasi and delivered in New York

Narottama Das Thakuravirbhava mahotsava ki jay!! All glories to the appearance day celebration of Srila Narottama Das Thakur.

Out of the many songs that Narottama Das Thakurhas written, there is a collection of songs called ‘lalasamayi prarthana’. Following is the song from this collection:

gauranga’ balite habe pulaka-sharira

‘hari hari’ balite nayane ba’he nira

ara kabe nitai-candera karuna haibe

samsara-vasana mora kabe tuccha ha’be

vishaya chadiya kabe shuddha ha’be mana

kabe hama heraba shri vrindavana

rupa-raghunatha-pade haibe akuti

kabe hama bujhaba se jugala piriti

rupa-raghunatha-pade rahu mora asha

prarthana karaye sada narottama dasa

H H Lokanath swami Maharaja reads and comments upon the purport by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada:

“This is a song sung by Narottama dasa Thakura, a great devotee and Acharya in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya, the disciplic succession coming down from Lord Caitanya. Narottama dasa Thakura has written many songs, which are recognized as authoritative by all the Vaishnavas. He has sung these songs in simple Bengali language, but the purport—the deep meaning of his songs—is very significant.”

In this song, he says, “Gauraga balite habe pulaka sarira” – when does one attain the perfection of chanting? – as soon as he chants the name of Gauranga, who inaugurated the sankirtana movement and at once there is shivering in his body. Of course it is not shivering due to cold, unlike us. (laughter). There was no external bodily cause for his shivering but Narottama das was shivering from within because his soul was trembling in ecstasy. This is not to be imitated. NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR is asking “When will that fortunate day come that I shall simply sing Lord Caitanya’s name and there will be shivering on my body as soon as I chant Lord Gauranga’s name?”

Then he says, “As soon as I shall chant ‘Hari Hari,’ or ‘Hare Krishna,’ there will be pouring down of tears from my eyes.” hari hari balite nayane bahe nira. That is the sequence. First there is shivering and then there will be tears in the eyes.

Then NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR is asking, “ara kabe nitai-candera karuna haibe”. We are all asking for the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is supposed to be the original spiritual master. So we have to approach Lord Gaurnaga through the mercy of Lord Nityananda. What is the symptom of the person who has achieved the mercy of Lord Nityananda? NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR says that the symptom of one who has actually received the mercy of Lord Nityananda that he has no more material desire. “samsara-vasana mora kabe tuccha ha’be”. Tuccha word is derived from the word ‘spit’. Tuccha means as insignificant as spitting. Srila Prabhupada once literally spat while giving a class in Calcutta. He was speaking the verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.9.45 “yan maithunadi-grihamedhi-sukham hi tuccham” and then he spat. (Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Grihamedhis, so-called grihasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress.)

‘Sansar vasana’ means desire for material enjoyment. NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR wonders “When my desire for material enjoyment will be insignificant, non-important – tuccha.’’ Of course, as long as we have material bodies, there are so many material needs. We do not fulfill our needs in the spirit of enjoyment, but only to keep body and soul together.

NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR says further, “rupa-raghunatha-pade haibe akuti”, “Beginning from Rupa Gosvami down to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami,” pade, “at their lotus feet. When I shall be eager to be attached at their lotus feet;” Akuti means eagerness. Srila Rupa gosvami is the father of devotional service. He has written a book called Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu in which he has given directions on devotional service. These topics are also dealt with in Caitanya Caritamrita and other books. We have summary of those directions in our book, ‘teachings of Lord Caitanya’.

One has to learn the conjugal loving affairs of Radha and Krishna through the teachings of these six gosvamis. NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR directs us not to try to understand the conjugal love affair of Radha and Krishna by our own efforts. We should try to understand this jugal priti under the direction of the gosvamis. As long as the mind is too much absorbed in materialistic thoughts, one cannot enter the kingdom of Vrindavana. But NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR says, “vishaya chadiya kabe shuddha ha’be mana, kabe hama heraba shri vrindavana” “When my mind will be completely purified, uncontaminated from the material contamination, at that time it will be possible for me to see what Vrindavana is.” When my mind will be completely purified, free from material anxieties and desires, I will be able to understand Vrindavana. Then I will understand the conjugal love of Radha and Krishna and then my spiritual life will be successful.

So this song is a glimpse of the life and teachings of NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR– It reveals the thoughts of Narottama, his emotions, feelings – in summary this song is a glimpse into the consciousness of NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR. “gauranga balite kabe..” His heart is full of thoughts like this, always. They are revealed to us through his writing. Thus we could read his thoughts in black and white. Hearing them we get to know NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR. Vaishnavera kriya mudra.. very difficult to understand. (CC Madhya 23.39 – Even the most learned man cannot understand the words, activities and symptoms of a person situated in love of Godhead.). Just by looking at a Vaishnava you may not understand him and his exhibition of activities like trembling of his body, rolling on the ground and other ashta-vikaras. His exhibition of these activities is not with a purpose that others will take note of it or take his photographs or video etc. He does not care for these things. The vaishnava may try to contain his emotions and yet some of his emotions may spill out. They come out in the form of the ashta vikaras. His soul is in contact with Supreme soul and what transpires through this communication or linking (yoga) with the Supreme (yoga) is the symptoms like trembling etc. The result is Hari Hari balite nayane babe nira. The love of Godhead overflowing within the heart of the vaishnava starts to drip out of the eyes in the form of tears. Tears of love of Godhead.

Thus through such songs, we get to know personalities like NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR. I don’t know how much we really get to know because it is not easy to know a vaishnava. Just as it is difficult to know the Supreme Lord, it is equally difficult to know the devotee of the Lord. In fact, the more we understand a devotee of the Lord, the more we can understand Krishna. The more we understand devotee and our spiritual master, the more we understand Krishna. If we fully understand the devotee, we can also fully understand Krishna, as much as a human being could possibly know. Prabhupada says, even Krishna does not fully know Himself fully. He is ever changing, ever growing, and ever expanding. So how much could we, living entities can know Krishna? We can know Krishna to the degree we know pure devotees, to the degree we know vaishnavas, and to the degree we know our spiritual master. “Saksat Haritvena samasta sastrair..” Krishna is sanatana Hari, Gaura Hari, and the spiritual master is saksat Hari.

Knowing Krishna is also possible by knowing dham, being able to see dham, or being able to reside in the dham. In the words of Narrotatma das Thakur in this song, “vishaya chadiya kabe shuddha ha’be mana, kabe hama heraba shri vrindavana” . One who is able to see Vridavana or Mayapur as it is and is able to finally stay at these places; not just as visitor but resident of these places can really know Krishna. However in spite of being resident, if one’s mind goes to various other places from Mayapur to Calcutta, from Mayapur to London, then it is of no use. Hence, NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR says, “When my mind will be freed from the contamination of this material enjoyment and I shall be purified, then it will be possible for me to see Vrindavana as it is.” When my mind will be suddha or pure, then my chanting of the holy names will also be pure – without offence. It will lead to shuddha bhakti, purified devotion.

Devotional service could be performed when my mind will pure (shuddha). This is all for us, and not for NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR. This song are his instructions to us. You do not even have to refer to scriptures. His songs ARE scriptures!

Jagannatha Das Babaji used to say, spiritual realizations are very cheap nowadays. How much cheap? Oh, you just give 50 paise and buy the books of Narottama das Thakur’s songs. Just read and sing those songs and you will have realizations, you will get all clarity and you will be on your way back home, back to Godhead.

All the teachings of the Vedas are there in the songs of NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR. He made it easier. Sanskrit is difficult to understand. You can just sing the songs that deal with all spiritual topics. He writes the songs dedicated to vaishnavas, to his spiritual master who is like his life and soul, to Gauanga, and to Radha and Krishna. These songs are famous everywhere – Orissa, Bengal.. and Prabhupada made them famous all over the world. In every town and village, they are known as Narottama dasa’s songs. Even if they may not know the Vedas or Upanisadas, they know Narottama dasa Thakura’s songs! Thus they have access to the Vedas, to the sastras when they read and sing songs of Narottama Das.

Everything is there in the songs. We get a glimpse of that knowledge depending upon how much surrendered and purified our minds and souls are. To the degree of purity of our minds, we can understand the songs of Narottama das. Even one song is enough to realize and go back to Krishna. Through his songs, we can understand his emotions, his devotional mood and deep purport of his songs can help us understand Radha Krishna.. “Radha-Krishna prana mor yugal kisor”

Srila Prabhupada gave us these gifts of songs of Narottama Das Thakur and Srila Bhaktivinod thakur. Now those songs are all over the planet. Soon the songs of NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR in coming 5000 years will reach every town and village. Not just the mahamantra. Maha mantra will reach every town and village along with these songs. By then news will be out about NAROTTAMA DAS THAKUR and his songs. He was not just another devotee. Just to be a devotee is not a small thing. But he is not just another devotee or another associate but direct contemporary of Caitanya maharpabhu.

Narottama Das Thakur’s transcendental life:

He appeared in 1531, three years prior to disappearance of Sri Caitanya mahaprabhu on a full moon day. Today is that full moon day of Magh purnima. Caitanya mahaprabhu appeared on Phalgun purnima and Narottama Thakur appeared on Magh purnima which is one month prior to Gaura purnima. Once, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was in the kirtan and the kirtan stopped in the middle. CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU was in full ecstasy, His body trembling and tears gliding down His cheeks, He pointed to the village Kheturi gram and shouted “Narottama, Narottama..”. these were the words of CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU. All the devotees were wondering what happened. So they concluded that the Lord is indicating the appearance of some personality called Narottama. When CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU uttered the name of Narottama on His lips, it appeared very auspicious to the devotees. This also gives another glimpse of Narottama’s personality to see how CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU was attached to Narottama.

CAITANYA MAHAPRABHU entered the river called Padmavati (now in Bangla desh). The Lord filled Padmavati with love of Godhead. He instructed Padmavati, “I am leaving this prema with you. This is meant to be given to a very special person. Only to that person, you deliver this prema. She asked, How would I know who is that person? Mahaprabhu assured her, you would know. When this person enters your waters, it will flood, not because of rainy season or something but you will just rise and expand by the entrance of that person. So to that person you give this prema. That is what happened. When Narottama entered the waters of Padmavati, the river swelled and flooded and she remembered the instructions and gave the Krishna prema to Narottama. The Lord personally invested His preme into Padmavati’s waters until this personality of Narottama could come.

Narottama Das Thakurappeared as a prince, Krishnananda Datta. The king and his wife Naraynai gave birth to this very special child, very beautiful. We may end up thinking he might have been more beautiful than I am! (laughter). But no one had ever seen a beautiful child like Narottama. He had different features. His body was golden, his naval was deep. His eyes were wide like blooming lotus. Not a word jugglery but literally. His arms were long, reaching his knees. Certainly there was no match to his beauty. Upon his anna-prasan ceremony (feeding grains for the first time), he refused to accept. Soon the parents realized that those grains were not offered to the Lord. As they offered it to the Lord and brought him the maha-prasad, he gobbled it up. Even as a child he was teaching what to eat and what not to eat. He was sent to school. He was a brilliant student – shrutidhar – with a photographic memory. He soon became a very learned pandit in Sanskrit grammar and poetry.

He came in contact with Gauranga bhaktas and he started listening to Gauranga lilas. He got attracted to the personality of Sri Gauranga and Nityananda prabhu. He began chanting Their names and was very eager to find them and meet them. Lord Gauranga gave him darshan in dream in sankirtana as Pancha tattva. Soon Narottama lost all attraction for anything worldly. The family members became afraid about his leaving home and going away. So they decided to get him married. Surely, they thought, if he is married he will be bound. Bound by kama-pash – by the ropes of lust.

However Narottama was thinking of only going to Vrindavana. Family members kept guards to keep a strict watch on him so that he may not run away to Vrindavana. One day the king of Bengal sent a message to Narottama’s father. His father along with his brother left for Navadvipa to see the king. Narottama thought it as a good opportunity to run away and he did. He went to Vrindavana dham. On the way all the pilgrims were treating him nicely. However the guards searched for him and found him. Narottama fed them nice Prasad and told them Gaura katha so well that they forgot their job of grabbing him and bringing him home. They did not do that assignment and Narottama was able to head toward Mathura.

Then he reached Mathura. Upon reaching there, he heard the news! Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana gosvami were no more! He was so anxious. “Rupa Raghunatha pade hoibe akuti” he wrote. He was dreaming and thinking day and night, when that day would appear when I get to meet with Rupa and Raghunatha and so many other devotees in Vrindavana. We could imagine about Narottama’s reaction to that news. As if a thunderbolt had struck him. He lamented and fell unconsciousness. Knowing his thoughts, Rupa and Raghunatha and others appeared before him and gave him darshan even though they were not physically present.

Then he moved on to Vrindavana. In fact there was a prediction that Narottama would arrive on one of these days and Jiva Gosvami was expecting him. As he arrived, Jiva gosvami was one of first personalities to welcome Narottama and bring him to Radha Govinda temple. Then he saw some of remaining associates of Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

Narottama was searching for his guru. By this time, Narottama was studying under Srila Jiva gosvami. Jiva gosvami is Narottama’s shiksha guru, the instructing spiritual master. He was also serving Lokanath gosvami incognito. When Lokanath gosvami would take care of his daily bodily cleaning, Narottama would secretly go to that place and would clean that area thoroughly well. Days and months had passed like this. Finally Lokanath swami noticed it and found out who was secretly cleaning the area after he took care of his body? He came to know that it was none other than Narottama. Finally that connection was made. Narottama was initiated by Lokanath gosvami. Initially Lokanath gosvami had a vow of not making any single disciple of his own. However Narottama was insisting that he must have Lokanath gosvami as his spiritual master. They were both determined. Finally Lokanath gosvami gave up his vow. Narottama found his spiritual master.

Narottama wrote a song about the guru, “sri guru charan padma kevala bhakti sadma vando mui savadan mate”. (maharaja asks everyone to read the purport to this song). Srila Prabhupada selected this song for the daily ‘Guru pooja’. Every word, every line is so much important.

The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krishna.

My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires.

He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character.

ur spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, and the lord and master of the devotees. O master! Be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds.

My spiritual master is the final destination for me. My destination is his lotus feet, uttama gati. When I reach the lotus feet of my spiritual master, I will also reach the lotus feet of Krishna. His lotus feet will bring me to the lotus feet of Krishna. By the mercy of my guru, I will achieve Krishna.

One day in Vrindavana, one Gopi like beautiful lady approached Narottama and told him, “your service in Vrindavana is to boil milk”. Narottama approached his guru and mentioned to him that such and such lady told me that my service in Vrindavana was to boil milk. He asked his guru what was the meaning of that. Lokanath gosvami said, first of all, that lady is not just an ordinary lady. It is Radha rani. She has revealed your eternal service in Vrindavana. Narottama is actually “chamak-manjari” from the spiritual world of Goloka Vrindavana and the particular service of this manjari is to boil milk!

One day he was in his transcendental service of boiling milk for Radha rani. He was in trance and the milk started overflowing due to his meditation. He tried to put off the fire to stop overflowing of milk and his fingers got burnt. Soon he was out of that trance or absorption in service. Suddenly he came back to his external consciousness. He tried to hide his burnt finger as he did not want others to know about this transcendental service. But the news spread and others came to know the position of Narottama.

He kept studying there under srila Jiva gosvami. By this time, Shyamananda and Srinivas acharya were also studying. Jiva gosvami was thinking that his disciples should go on Vraja mandal parikrama. Soon after he had this thought, he saw Raghav gosvami of Vrindavana. He stayed near Vrindavana in a cave, which is still there. Raghav gosvami was also preparing to go on this parikrama. Srila Jiva gosvami requested him to take along Shyamananda, Srinivas acharaya and Narottama das with him on Vraja mandal parikrama. There is a description of this parikrama in Bhakti Ratnakar. It describes of their experiences; every few steps they would roll on the ground, their bodies trembling and tears flowing from their eyes. They went around Vraja like this hearing about Radha and Krishna, different pastimes, and wetting all the dust of Vraja with their tears which they were constantly shedding.

Jiva gosvami instructed them to go on the preaching mission with the books. Narottama also visited Mayapur, Shantipur, Puri, and then his hometown. By this time his father was no more. The area was being ruled by another king, named Santosh. The king greeted Narottama with great reverence. This king had association of Narottama Das Thakurfor some time and he became initiated disciple of Narottama das along with so many other prominent persons. However Narottama was not born in brahmana family. The then existing smarta brahmanas took objection to this initiation process saying how could Narottama do this. They decided to visit him for a debate. When they came to his village, there were so many learned disciples of Narottama, having taken up various occupations of vaishya category. When Smarta brahmanas entered the town, they happened to meet with all these disciples of Narottama Das Thakurat in various market places. All the disciples were speaking in Sanskrit! They had dialogs with the brahmanas and defeated the brahmanas in debate. The smarta brahmanas thought that these are just the disciples of Narottama; they are doing all sorts of occupations, and yet they are so learned. Thus they realized the position of Narottama das and did not go to debate with him.

First ever Gaura Purnima festival: Then Narottama das decided to celebrate the first ever Gaura purnima festival with great pomp. There were many temple opening events, deity installation was going on. This was the first ever gaura purnima festival and devotees from all over arrived. The whole festival lifted everyone’s consciousness. The main objective of festival was to raise consciousness of the devotees who were present in the festival. Narottama led an ecstatic kirtan. Vaishnavas were playing musical instrument, touching each other’s feet, they all were singing in the kirtan with right raga and right bhava. How can we describe that kirtan? It was practically out of this world! Pancha tattva Personalities from another world descended and joined Narottama’s kirtan. Meeting of the two worlds took place without any barriers. Even though Caitanya mahaprabhu, Nityananda prabhu and other members of Pancha tattva had already left this mortal world, everyone assembled there saw all these personalities joining the kirtan. Jahnava mata, Nityananda prabhu’s consort also saw Him. Advaita acharaya’s sons saw Advaita acharya. Finally kirtan stopped and everyone was back in their normal worldly position. They felt the absence of all these divine persoanalities and they fell unconscious as if having lost their lives, not being able to see again Mahaprabhu and Nityananda prabhu.

Jahnava mataji cooked feast and served everyone in the Gaura purnima festival. She was the acharya of gaudiya vaishnavas. That time there were many differences of opinion, many interpretations in understanding of the vaishnava philosophy after Mahaprabhu’s disappearance. During this festival, Jahnava mata, through ista gosti, reconciled everything, establishing the final conclusions and thus unified all the vaishanvas present at this festival at Kheturi dham. Then they played holi, throwing colors with the Deities. In this way Narottama Das Thakurorganized the first ever, grand Gaura purnima festival.

Our Gaura purnima festival is beginning now, ending after one month on Gaura purnima day. So please meditate upon this first ever Gaura purnima festival and on the life of Srila Narottama das thakur!!

Hari bol!

Date: 6^th July 2011, Venue: Pune (On  occasion of 25^thanniversary of 24 hours sankirtan in Krishna Balarama temple His Holiness Lokanath Maharaj ji talking to the 24 hours sankirtan team in Krishna Balarama and glorifying Aindra Prabhu on phone)

Aindra prabhu ki……………jai, we miss him on this day such a wonderful association, so much inspiration especially in the kirtan, sankirtan movement. I also like little bit kirtan, so we were colleagues and I remember from the kirtan we did together during Kartik in front of Krishna and Balarama or in Mayapur in front of Pancha tattva, he is sitting next to me. The sad part
is he is not with us; the good part is he is gone back to Krishna and joined our Shyamsundar in Vrindavan.

I think this is 25^th year, 25^th anniversary of the kirtan that he inaugurated, it started in 86 we arrived in Mayapur for the 500^th anniversary Caitanya Mahaprabhu appearances, so hard work. So I wish he was with us this year also in celebration of completion of 25^th year of “akhanda” –Non stop kirtan in Krishna Balarama Temple.  World famous Krishna Balarama temple is known for its “Non Stop” kirtan probably it’s the only temple. Srila Prabhupada wanted this and Aindra Prabhu he fulfilled
Prabhupada,s desire of having “Non Stop” kirtan in Krishna Balarama temple, all glories to him.

Besides the Holy Name he was attached to the Radha Shyamasundar he would do kirtan in front of them and then he would also go on the altar, so many days, every week and dress Radha Shyamasundar we remember him as pujari of Radha Shyamasundar . And I also remember when ever gave class he just stand in front of Radha Shyamasundar,s  altar and listen to class from there and sometimes he would also ask questions or make some comments. He had very deep
philosophical insight for the realm of Radha, Krishna and Manjaries and Gopis, he was into that bhava.

And then his personal Deities number of Silas that he had collected, biggest collection on the planet. He has Guara Nitai and Vrindadevi. Last month I was there and I was given tour of his quarter we spend quiet sometime with the Deities and all the devotees who were team members of his 24 hours Sankirtan party and then I was also pointed out at a clock at the wall it had no hands it was stand still and one devotee said purposely Aindra Prabhu put that clock which did not move – meant in Vrindavan there is no influence of time transcendental. I kind of became emotional and speechless on the occasion like this. So we miss him, we take inspiration and we have responsibility of pushing
on the 24 hour kirtan at the Krishna Balarama temple. I understand some more devotees have joined and there is quite a steady team and kirtans are going on and on and on………that way keep Aindra Prabhu alive. And last time I was with the kirtan team in Aindra Prabhu,s quarters I asked devotees would you like to see Aindra Prabhu dead or alive? And the y said of course we want to see him alive, we want to see him alive. Then I proposed them to do kirtan and Aindra Prabhu
would be there, wherever there is kirtan Aindra Parbhu must be there where else he would go.

Almost conditioned by the kirtan he can’t be away from kirtan or without kirtan. Keep performing kirtan, chanting 24 hours push on his service, his project and that would be the best attribute on occasion like this to Aindra Prabhu. (Maharaj asking the 24 hours kirtan team devotees in the
Krishna Balarama temple) is Krishna Balaram temple full? Reply- yes ok now I would let you carry on. Aindra Prabhu was offered Raj Bhoga –remnants of Krishna Balarama, Radha Shyamsundar, Guara Nitai, I was trying to watch on Iskcon Vrindavan.com I missed and I was kind of wondering where then I found out you all were not in the temple but in the Balarama Hall. Ok so my obeisance
at the lotus feet of Aindra Prabhu and my obeisance to all assembled vaishnavas
there.

Srila Prabhupada ki ……….jai

Aindra Prabhu ki…………………jai

“vancha kalpatarubhyas ca krpa- sindhubhya eva ca pattitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah”

Harinaam Sankirtan ki………jai

24 hours kirtan in front of Krishna Balarama ki………….jai.

Guara premanande ……………………..Hari Hari bol

Date: 2008, Venue: Vrindavan (Braj mandal Parikrama) Haribol, so when a devotee was walking with umbrella he was trying to hold it over me, immediately I was remembered of a pastime,
when first time Krishna had to leave for cow herding.  Then mother Yashoda approached Krishna,
please take umbrella and also take pair of shoes. Krishna refused “no. no….i can’t wear shoes, cows don’t have shoes but if you insist I wil wear the shoes then bring the shoes for all
the cows first”.

So Nanda Maharaj had 900,000 cows and each cow has 4 legs, so how many shoes are
required? 36 lakhs so which bata-tata company would provide so many shoes (laughter
maharaj also laughing).

So mother Yashoda gave up the idea of insisting Krishna to wear the shoes. Oh! But at
least take the umbrella it’s hot out there, again Krishna’s condition was first
get umbrella for the cows, so how many umbrella required? 9lakhs then Krishna
said cows have feet but they don’t have hands so we would require somebody to
carry the umbrella, so we need 9 lakh people walking next to the cows holding
umbrella. Mother Yashoda also gave up that idea (laughs) she could not manage 9
lakh people. So during all the cow herding pastime of Sri Krishna in Vrindavan
, He always walks bear feet behind the cows. So don’t think you are the only
ones going on Braj mandal parikrama without shoes, Krishna also goes around without
shoes in Vrindavan.

So He has gone around without shoes, without umbrella, then He did little preaching to mother Yashoda.  He said “dharmo rakshati rakshaka” if we protect dharma then dharma will in turn protect us. So Krishna says “serving cows taking care of cows this is our dharma” this is our dharma then our own protection is guaranteed if we take care of cows protect the cows, serve the cow.  Lord Krishna not only has delivered talk – discourse on this topic but He has practically demonstrated throughout His Lilas the importance of cows and importance of serving the cows.

So cow is the center of our culture and religion. Krishna, s one of the principal pastime
is  “gocaran-lila” cow herding –calf herding pastime. What does the God do? This morning also a question came up what does the God do every day? That minister or that priest he was not able to give suitable answer to that question. But we know the answer is very simple, I know
that you also know the answer now I have given you some clue. So what does
Krishna do every day? He is a cow herd boy He is herding cows. Supreme
Personality of God head, master and controller of all the universes all that He
does in Vrindavan during the day is herding cows and calves “namo brahmanya devaya go brahmanya hitayacha jagad hitaya krishnaya govindaya namo namhaa”.

So in this way Krishna has established the importance of Cows and the Brahmanas in Krishna
consciousness. So we are doing the puja of the cows today as it was instructed
by Krishna to Nanda Maharaj. Krishna says worship cows, brahmanas and Giriraj,
so we have done some puja of the cows, Gomata ki ……..jai, we should worship and serve the brahmanas “vancha-kalpataru bhyas ca krpa-sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo
vaisnavebhyo namo namah”. And then soon we would also be worshiping Giriraj
and in this way till this day Krishna’s instructions get followed Giriraj Govardhan
ki ….jai. So the cows and Govardhan they are very closely connected, closely related if you hear the
name Govardhan there is a cow connection right there in the name of Govardhan .
So cows become healthy they become hell and hearty because of the grass that is
available at Govardhan, the water, the shades of the trees, that is all
available at Govardhan. The cows enjoy being around this Govardhan, the cowherd boys are also very very happy being around cows and Govardhan. So let us contemplate, meditate upon Govardhan and Krishna, cowherd boys and cows around Govardha. So that one day we would be
promoted we will also get assignment as a cowherd boy, but you may say O! I am engineer,
come on! I am doctor, I can’t  be a cow herd boy .but Krishna is a cow herd boy, if you just want to be doctor, engineer just continue in this world. But if you want to come back home then be
prepared to be the cow herd boy herding cows, taking care of the cows. Anyone
interested in going back home going to Krishna, going to Vrindavan? Haribol.
Then pray to this cow, pray to this dhama, pray to Giriraj so that you will
become eligible we will have that adhikar of entering the pastime of Krishna
being a cow herd boy. Gomataki…….jai, so before you leave pay your obeisance’s
to the cows deep in your heart, pray to the cow, touch the feet of the cow.

Venue: Mayapur, 21st Feb, 2008

Narottama das Thakur avirbhava tithi mahotsav ki……….. jai One of the many songs of Narottama das Thakur we will read Lalasamayi Prarthana  is the name of the song from Prarthana and the Purport with the song written by Srila Prabhupada

‘gauranga’ bolite habe pulaka-sarira ‘hari hari’ bolite nayane ba’ be near

ara kabe nitai-cander koruna hoibe samsara-basana mora kabe tuccha ha’be

vishaya chariya kabe suddha ha ’be mana kabe hama herabo sri-brindabana

rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti kabe hama bujhabo se jugala-piriti

rupa-raghunatha-pade rahu mora asa prarthana koroye sada narottama-dasa

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada ki………………….jai This song was sung by Narottama dasa Thakura, a great devotee and acarya in the Gaudiya Vaishnavasampradaya, the disciplic succession coming down from Lord Caitanya. Narottama dasa Thakura has written many songs, which are recognized as authoritative by all Vaishnavas. He has sung these songs in simple Bengali language, but the purport—the deep meaning of his songs—is very significant. In this song he says, ‘gauranga’ bolite habe pulaka sarira. One has attained the perfection of chanting when as soon as he chants the name of Lord Gauranga, who initiated this sankirtana movement, at once there is shivering in his body. This is not to be imitated, but Narottama dasa Thakura is asking, “When will that opportune moment come to us when there will be shivering of the body as soon as we chant Lord Gauranga’s name?”

And after the shivering—‘hari hari’ bolite nayane ba ’be nira: “While chanting Hare Krishna, there will be tears in the eyes.” Then he says, ara kabe nitai-cander koruna hoibe. We are all asking about the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Nityananda is supposed to be the original spiritual master, so we have to approach Gauranga, Lord Caitanya, through the mercy of Lord Nityananda. What is the symptom of a person who has achieved the causeless mercy of Lord Nityananda? Narottama dasa Thakura says that the symptom of one who has actually received the causeless mercy of Lord Nityananda is that he has no more material desire. Ara kabe nitai-cander koruna hoibe samsara-basana mora kabe tuccha ha’be.

Tucca means spitting tuccha ha be, we hear Srila Prabhupada once literally spat when he was givinf class in Calcutta, that verse was from Bhagvatam tuccha maithun, “grihamedhi sukham hi tuccham” and then Srila Prabhupada spat (laughter) insignificant maithun-sex pleasure tuccham

Samsara-basana means “desire for material enjoyment,” and Narottama dasa wonders when it will become very insignificant. Of course, as long as we have bodies we have to accept so many material things, but not in the spirit of enjoyment, but only to keep body and soul together. Narottama dasa says further, rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti: “When shall I be very much eager to study the books left by the six Gosvamis?”

Radha Madhav ki …………jai

Akuti means “eagerness.” Because Rupa Gosvami is the father of devotional service, he has written a book called Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, in which there are nice directions on devotional service. These topics are also dealt with in Caitanya-caritamrita and other books, and we have given the summary of those directions in our book Teachings of Lord Caitanya. One has to learn of the conjugal loving affairs of Radha-Krishna through the teachings of these six Gosvamis. Narottama dasa Thakura directs us not to try to understand the conjugal love of Radha-Krishna by our own endeavor. We should try to understand this yugala-piriti, conjugal love, under the direction of the Gosvamis. As long as the mind is too much absorbed in materialistic thought, one cannot enter into the kingdom of Vrindavana.

But Narottama dasa Thakura says, vishaya chariya kabe suddha ha’be mana kabe hama herabo sri-brindabana: “When the mind is completely purified, being freed from material anxieties and desires, then I shall be able to understand Vrindavana and the conjugal love of Radha and Krishna, and then my spiritual life will be successful.”

So this song is the glimpse of the life and teachings of Narottama, thoughts of Narottama, the emotions, feelings or in summary we could say consciousness of Narottama dasa Thakura. It’s the glimpse of the consciousness of Narottama dasa Thakura. This is speech of Narottama dasa Thakura “gauranga’ bolite habe pulaka-sarira” . He is thinking like this, he is just thinking like this his heart is full of thoughts like this and when he full of those thoughts and he is always full of such thoughts then those thoughts come out of his mouth of course he is writing  these thoughts are coming out through writing, we could read his thoughts in black and white and by reading those thoughts, hearing those thoughts, we get to know Narottama dasa “vaishnaveir kriya mudra” very difficult, to understand vaishnav just by looking at him you may not understand, of course trembling in his body and rolling on the ground and all those astavikaras as he exhibits but not so that others would take note of it or others would take photograph of it or video out of it,  that is not his purpose that is not his purpose he doesn’t  care or infact he can’t help himself. He may be even trying to contain those emotions and feelings but somethings spill out they come out in the form of these emotions as there is contact with the Supreme Soul and as communication takes place as that yoga link is established they begin trembling and “‘hari hari’ bolite nayane ba’ be nira” and they are full, emotions are full, Love of Godhead is full and then it begins dripping out of the eye in the form of the tears tears of Love of Godhead.

So this is Narottama dasa as he is in he is coming out with these words and then we get to know Narottama dasa Thakura like personality. I don’t know how much we will get know it’s not easy to know as it is difficult to know the Lord that much difficult is also to know devotees of the Lord. So infact as much as we know devotees that much Krishna also we know, we know more devotees and how we know him, more we know spiritual master, we understand spiritual master more we understand Krishna more and when we understand Krishna more then we understand devotees fully and then we understand Krishna fully, as much as human being could possibly know as Prabhupada said even Krishna doesn’t know himself fully, He is ever changing and ever growing and ever expanding. So how much could we know Krishna But as much as is possible for a living entity to know Krishna to that degree wwe know.

“saksad-dharitvena samasta – satrair” saksad Hari he is another Hari, he is Guarhari, Hari Hari and spiritual master is saksad hari. So then we will be able to see dhama and able to reside in the dhama in the words of Narottama dasa.  vishaya chariya kabe suddha ha ’be mana Whether Vrindavan or Mayapur able to see Mayapur as it is, Mayapur as it is, and able to stay finally stay here. (Maharaja addressing the devotees) you are residents of Vrindavan I am just like a visitor of Vrindavan. So these visitors we don’t know how long we stay here if our body is here mind does make trips between here and where ever here and Calcutta, here and London. So “kabe hama herabo sri-brindabana” when will I O! When will I be able to see Vrindavan, O! Vrindavan, O! Vrindavan, O! Vrindavan.

“kabe suddha ha ’be mana” when my mind is suddha-pure, when the mind is pure then I will also be able to experience suddha-pure, when the mind is pure then I will also experience suddha naam, naam chanted with aparadhas and name chanted with nama bhas stage and suddha naam, sudha naam and suddha dhama and everything suddha, suddha bhakti – pure purified, thoroughly purified. And all these dhama and nama and the Lord in pure unalloyed devotional service could be performed when mind is suddha “suddha ha ’be mana” and this is all for us not for Narottama dasa. He is singing like this, his songs are instructions, he don’t even have to read scriptures his songs are scriptures. Guar Kishor Dasa Babaji Maharaj.  Oh! You have 50 paise the realizations are very cheap these days how much? Just 50 paise, what could I do in 50paise you could buy song book of Narottama dasa Thakur. You just read those songs sing those songs and you will have realization the path will be clear you will be on way back home. As you sing read the songs of Narottama dasa Thakura all the teachings of the Vedas are there in the song of Narottama dasa Thakura. He made it easier, Sanskrit is difficult, the language you feel relate to and you could also sing the songs about all varieties of topics. Ohe! Vaishnav thakur, gurudev………..and about his Gurudev also unto him his gurudev was his life and soul.

“sri guru caran padma” that  Guru is my life and soul, only disciple of Lokanath Goswami. So there are songs about Guru and Vaishnva, Guaranga and Radha Krishna on and on and on…………..He compiled all these songs which are world famous now. Prabhuapada made these songs world famous they are famous in Bengali, in Orissa, in Manipur every town and village they know songs of  Narottama dasa Thakura, they may not know Vedas and Puranas and Bhagavatam but they know song of Narottama dasa Thakura.

So they have access to Vedas and all the sastras as they read and sing the songs of Narottama dasa Thakura. We get a glimpse not everything is there in the song but we just get a little glimpse  of what he is trying to convey or more or less depending upon much surrender soul we are  how much purified soul we are,  minds how much purified they are to that degree we understand that song of Narottama dasa Thakura. Even one song is enough if someone could understand one song of Mahasaya he will go back to Krishna.

Understand his emotions, his mood, deep purport of this song, we have understood Krishna, by that time you end of understanding “Radha Krishna prana mora yugal kisora” thats Narottama dasa Thakura. So we have songs of Narottama dasa Thakura and we have songs of Bhakti Vinod Thakur. The other vaishnav acharyas songs mostly Narottama dasa Thakura song, Bhakti Vinod Thakur song, Srila Prabhupada gave us that as a gift and those songs are all over the planet now. Soon the songs of Narottama dasa Thakura in coming 5000 yrs they will be reaching every town, every village not just the Mahamantra, Mahamantra will reach every town, every village along with that by then news will be out  Narottama dasa Thakura and his songs.

He was like just another devotee but just to be a devote is not a small thing, but he was not just another devotee or not just another associate, he appeared in 1531, three years prior to departure of Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1534) Narottama dasa Thakura on the full moon day today is full moon day one month prior to Guar Pornima, Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on Falguna Pornima and Narottama dasa Thakura appeared on Magha Pornima.

So yes Caitanya Mahaprabhu was on the planet and one day Caitanya Mahaprabhu was in kirtan and kirtan stopped in middle (Maharaj feels dryness in throat and he says )good to speak with just the soul, soul could speak, soul does not need body could speak just without the body but we need to speak through the body unfortunately and my voice is getting choked with ecstasy I was reading in Bhagvatam “kanthe ghur ghurayate” ghur…….ghur…..when nadika filled with kafa  then the sound is ghur…….ghur……..

So in middle of kirtan Caitanya Mahaprabhu is facing Kheturi gram, again in biography of Narottama dasa Thakura he says that he would be appearing. Caitanya mahaprabhu stopped kirtan and He is full of ecstasy He is always full of ecstasy, his body trembling, tears gliding down his cheeks pointing to the town Kheturi gram and He chants Narottama………………, Narottama……………………………, Narottama………………………. These were the words of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all associates were wondering what is Lord trying to convey? Why He is uttering Narottama Narottama?

The devotees concluded that Lord is predicting appearance of some personality called Narottama. Caitanya Mahaprabhu He uttered the name, the name is so auspicious very very special with great feeling Caitanya Mahaprabhu was uttering Narottama………………, Narottama……………………………, Narottama……………………….

So He gave the glimpse of the status of Narottama what kind of valve Caitanya Mahaprabhu attached to the personality, appearance and personality of Narottama. And Caitanya Prabhu He enters river Padmavati this is now in other part of Bengal which is Bangladesh Padmavati. The Lord fills Padmavati with Love of Godhead. Padmavati river is some love some prema lives personified, love is there floating in the river and Lord instructs  river Padmavati listen to this I am living this prema with you, but this is meant for a very special person only to that person you deliver this Krishna prema.

Padmavati said how would I know which is that person?  you would know, how? When that person enters in your water you would flood noT because of the rainy season and water coming from outside. You will just rise and expand by entrance of that person within your waters to that person you give this prema.

So latter on that happened person entered into the water of Padmavati she swelled, expanded rising rising and immediately O! She remembered instructions of Mahaprabhu O! That person is here she gave that Krishna prema to Narottama. So Lord personally invested His love, Krishna prema unto this personality of Narottama. So when Narottama appeared he was prince, Krishnanda data was the king and Narayani his wife, queen they gave birth to this very special child very beautiful. No one had ever seen child like this Narottama, he was beautiful that’s not enough to say he was beautiful, we end up saying little more beautiful than I am (laughter). He had different features his body was golden, his navel was deep, his eyes were wide like the blooming lotus, literally not just a poetic rendering, you need to know beauty in your eyes to compare the eyes, eyes may be just like a monkey (laughter) then you end up describing padmalocani you are, kamalocani you are, you are markatlocani (laughter).

But in this case he was like that, his arms were long reaching his knees certainly there is no match. It was time for annaprasana- grain giving ceremony they were feeding him grains he would not accept, refuse soon they realized those grains were not offered to the Lord, they were just purchased from the shop and they were directly in the plate to be feed to the child. The child realized no, no when they gave him mahaprasadam he gobbled up, even as a child he is teaching lessons what to eat, what not to eat. He sent to school he was a brilliant student “shrutidhar” – once he hears that’s it, photographic memory he grasp very thing he hears very soon very learned pandit. He knows all the Sanskrit grammar, poetry and all that when he comes in contact with Guaranga bhaktas he begins listening to Guaranga Lilas and Nityananda’s pastimes and immediately he gets attracted to those personalities.

He begins chanting the names and he is very eager to find them, to meet them, eager. So Lord gives darshan in the dreams there whole Sankirtan party, the Pancha Tattva, Guar Nitai he is envisioning and he is in just early teens, growing boy and by now he has no more attraction for anything worldly and he is thinking of going to Vrindavan and realizing but what are the thoughts of the child .

He may leave one of these days, leave home they are trying to bind him by marrying him, and it is marriage for sure you will be bound by “pasha” kama pasha– the ropes of the lust it will bind him and he will forget but he was not interested at all, did not show any interest in getting married  only thinking of going to Vrindavan they employed guards in case of Ragunath Das also there was a guard,  in this case also there was  guard employed to keep eye on Narottama, make sure he doesn’t leave, keep close watch on  him and family was also watching and one day the king of Bengal send a message to another king  Krishnananda Datta , he was wanted so father of Narottama leaves for Bengal from Navadvipa along with his brother and when they were out of station Narottama thoughts this was the day I ran from the home and headed for Vrindavan,Vrindavan dhama ki jai……

He was on the way to Vrindavan, all the pilgrims were treating him nicely. The guards ran after him, they found him but he was so nice he was telling them Guaranga’s  katha , giving them prasadam they forgot what task they had to do , they had to catch him bring him back him they did not do then assignment and Narottama was able to go to Mathura. He reaches Mathura and upon arriving in Mathura he gets the news what is the news? Not good news, news is  Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami and so many others  they are no more.

He was so very anxious “rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti” he is singing like this, his thoughts are like that O! when that day will be mine that I will meet rupa-raghunatha-pade, the lotus feet of rupa-raghunatha, he has been dreaming thinking day and night to meet so many devotes in Vrindavan specially rupa-raghunatha. So the news reached that they are no more, we could not even, imagine what could we imagine about Narottama dasa response or reaction to that news. He thought he had lost, thunderbolt had stuck him. O! What did you saying I am not going to see rupa-raghunatha he lamented and fell unconscious. By knowing his thoughts rupa-raghunatha and others appeared to him gave him darshan. Then he goes on towards Vrindavan side, infact there was a prediction some great personality is arriving, the news was spread he must be arriving one of these days in Vrindavan.

Jiva Goswami was expecting him and as he arrived Jiva Goswami was one of the first one to receive Narottama in Vrindavan. And then he was introduced to various different remaining devotees, remnants of the associates of Guaranga Mahaprabhu. This was already known, you have to take Lokanath would be your spiritual master, what do you need spiritual master for? But he was insisting I must have spiritual master. By this time he was also studying after Jiva Goswami and Jiva Goswami is already like a siksha guru of Narottama dasa Thakura and serving Lokanath Goswami, hidingly serving him that’s the famous part. After Lokanath Goswami had taken care of his body to that area Narottama dasa Thakura would go for clean it so thoroughly well to that area.  And days and months had passed Lokanath Goswami who who is he? Who is hiding and doing this? Cleaning after I have taken care of the body? That was none other than Narottama dasa Thakura, so finally that connection was made he was initiated. But Lokanath Goswami had his vow no, no I am not going to initiate anybody and Narottama dasa Thakura no, no I must have you as my spiritual master, they were both determined.

So finally Lokanath Goswami gave up surrendered and accepted Narottama dasa Thakura. And then among many of those songs of Narottama dasa Thakura “sri guru caran padma kevala – bhakti sadmabando mui savadhana mate” (sri guru vandavana from prema bhakti candrika). So the purport of this song could be understood vey deep “guru mukha –padma –vakya, cittete koriya aikya” . “guru mukha –padma –vakya” the words emanating from the lotus mouth of spiritual master (maharaja asking the devotees to read the purport of the song and to meditate while reading).

Purport of Sri Guru Vandavana – “The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krishna.

My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth.
Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires.

He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character.

Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, and the lord and master of the devotees.
O master! Be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds”

Srila Prabhupad ki …..jai

So Narottama dasa Thakura is singing Srila Llokanath Goswami  ki …………jai

So Srila Prabhupada he selected that song, Narottama he is the disciple he is thinking of spiritual master and “prema-bhakti jaha hoite, avidya vinasa jate” “prema-bhakti jaha hoite” where there is prema bhakti , “avidya vinasa jate” avidya finish, avidya –ignorance.

“cakshu-dan dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei” each word, each line is so much meaning. I don’t know how much meaning? I only say so much, how much?  I can only say so …….much. In the words of this song  guru puja song as we sing this Narottama’s song every day . “lokanath lokera jivana” my spiritual master is life of everybody, whole world. My spiritual master is final destination for me; my destination is lotus feet of my spiritual master. “uttama-gati” the topmost destination- the lotus feet of my spiritual master, but when I reach lotus feet of my spiritual master I will also reach lotus feet of Krishna or those feet will bring me to lotus feet of Krishna.  “savadhana mate” with awe and reverence I approach “Krishna prapti hoy jaha hate” Krishna prapti, I will have Krishna , I will attain Krishna by mercy of spiritual master.

So those were the kinds of spiritual master also were like competent, purified, sakshad haris and then appropriate glorification is also there. So one day still in Vrindavan, Narottama dasa Thakura, a beautiful lady gopi like approaches him and says – your service in Vrindavan is boiling milk, boil the milk. So  Narottama dasa Thakura he approaches his Guru Maharaja, I had encounter with such and such lady and she said your assignment in Vrindavan is this , what does it mean ? Lokanath Goswami first of all that lady is not just someone from Uttar Pradesh, U.P that lady you meet is Radharani and Radharani had revealed to your  eternal service in Vrindavan that  is boiling the milk. Then Narottama dasa Thakura was “chamak manjari” she is a Manjari from Vrindavan, Gopis, Manjaris and service of Manjaries is boiling milk.

And he was boiling milk and boiling and boiling the milk is overflowing he is in another mood, he is in trance and he is boiling milk in front. He is fully there but no external consciousness, he is there doing the service. When milk was boiling he is trying to stop ahe!……..trying to stop but turning off the gas or flame with the fingers. And that boiling milk as he touched his fingers burned soon he was out of that trance, absorption. So when he came to external conscious his fingers were burned, he was trying to hide, he didn’t want others to know his confidential. The news spread and others came to know the position of Narottama dasa Thakura.

So he kept studying other under Jiva Goswami by this time Shyamananda and Srinivas Acharya they also were studying  and Jiva Goswami was thinking that these disciples of him they should go around Braj Manadal Parikrama. And soon after he had this thought he saw Raghav Goswami, another Goswami in Vrindavan, he stayed near Govardhan, his cave is still there. O! Raghav Goswami where are you going? Where are you going? Jiva Goswami inquired I am going on Braj manadal parikrama. Jiava goswami is thinking it will be nice if these Prabhus Shyamananda, Narottama, Srinivas Acarya would go on Parikrama. He said to Raghav Goswami please take these along then Raghav Goswami took Narottama, Shyamananda, Srinivas acharya on Braj Mandal Parikrama.

So there is description of that parikrama in Bhakti Ratnakar, kind of experience they we are going through every step they would be rolling in the ground, they would hear one pastime and finished , collapsed, getting up walking 2 steps another pastime of Krishna took place here finished they are in dust, body trembling. So like this they were going all around Braj hearing about Radha Krishna, different pastime and wetting the dust of Braj with the tears. Then Jiva Goswami instructed about the preaching mission, take the book and these 3 Prabhus loaded the books, the granthas, all the Goswami, s literature, copies loaded them in the cart tightly packed going towards Bengal. And the king on the way of Vishnupur got the news that someone is carrying ratnas, the jewels he is astrologer and he made the arrangements. O! Capture them, arrest them bring all of jewels.

So unfortunately he was successful in bringing all the scriptures. So these prabhus they were looking going all around looking for the granthas. Srinivas acharya stays around to find, others also looking for the granthas. Narottam dasa  he comes to Mayapur takes darshan , Shantipur darshan he goes to Puri darshan then finally comes to Kheture gram his own home town by this time  his father was no more. There was another king called Santosh and he was saintly king and greeted Narottama dasa Thakura welcomed and then Guar Pornima festival was coming up this king he had association of Narottama dasa Thakura he becomes initiated disciple of Narottama dasa Thakura . And so many other prominent people they became disciples of Narottama dasa Thakura. The smartha Brahman said Narottama is not born in Brahman how could he do this? So they invited for the debate and Narottama dasa Thakura disciples, learned disciples they had by this time taken different professions, pot makers, selling commodities.

So these smartha Brahman came to the town they had encounter with all these prabhu in disguise they are speaking in Sanskrit and they were already dialogues was on and they were getting defeated. Then they realized if this is just a disciple so learned they are doing this kind of job potters etc. so they realized position of Narottama dasa Thakura.

So Guar Pornima festival king was busy making arrangements, temple opening,  deity installation, so there are very elaborate description of first guar pornima celebration to be celebrated and devotees all over were invited all arrived and big festival; and singing and Narottama dasa Thakura was singing and he doesn’t just get up and starts singing the kind of consciousness lifting, full experience of going through that festival, organizing that festival  was all raising consciousness. And finally on guar pornima day, Narottama dasa Thakura kirtan, right devotees are there to sing, right devotees are there to play instruments, he touching the feet’s of Vaishnavs , touching the instruments, right ragas, right bhava and as he  sings, O! What could we say we have no words, the kirtan of Narottama dasa Thakura was out of this world. Must say out of this world because personalities from out of this world they descended, either Narottama dasa Thakura put everyone to that another world or that another world desended and meeting of the two worlds took place, no barriers in between.  And everybody assembled, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda prabhu they were not on the planet that they were present in the midst of that kirtan, they saw Caitanya Mahaprabhu there , Nityananda Prabhu there and Janhava Mataji was also there and her husband Nityananda prabhu appeared. And Advaitcaharayas’s sons were there in the crowed in the audience, they saw Advaitacharya there he had departed but again all these personalities are there in midst of them.

Finally kirtan stopped everyone was back into this world again deprived of those Pancah Tattva presence. All fell unconscious because they lost their life. Janhava Mataji was thinking what to do? She cooked feast, served them she cooks, she serves, you take Prasad no, no, I want to serve.  Now it was time for servers to take Prasad, she served to them also finally she took Prasad and deities were installed. And so this Kheturi gram Guar Pornima festival unified all the devotees assembled there and Janhava mataji started throwing colours at the deities then everyone joined. She was just trying to get them out of this consciousness they were lamenting they were thinking we lost are Pancha Tatva where are they? They were playing holy  with the deities throwing colors. They again had a good time; they had their Lords back in form of deities. So this way Narottama dasa Thakura also became responsible for that great grand Guar Pornima festival.

Nitai Guar Premanade ………………….Haribol

Narottama das Thakur avirbhava tithi mahotsav ki……….. Jai

He was known as Mahasaya Narottama Mahasaya ki ………..jai.